Thinking outside the mailbox on Staten Island

Frank Johns/AdvanceThe mail gets through on Brookfield Avenue in Great Kills.

You may not recognize your mail carrier next year, but the government hopes you won't see any difference in service.

With the flagging economy triggering unprecedented losses, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is reorganizing delivery routes on Staten Island in hopes of cutting costs. The change is part of a nationwide effort to right an agency that lost $2.8 billion last year after experiencing the largest percentage decline in mail volume since the Great Depression.

On the Island, the drop was drastic. Mail volume plunged 17.6 percent during the last three months -- traditionally peak season at post offices.

Some postal workers, however, fear the reorganization will hurt postal business even more.

While city and government agencies plan to lay off hundreds of workers as the recession stretches through next year and beyond, the USPS wants to prevent such drastic measures by making its operations more efficient, according to spokesman Bob Trombley.

"In order to remain effective, we are trying to match our workload with our workforce," Trombley said. "You may see a new mail carrier face, and you may get your mail at a different time, but the total effect on the customer will be minimal."

Representatives of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the USPS have been meeting to iron out details of the realignment, which will affect about 450 Island postal workers and more than 300 mail routes. On average, Island carriers handle about 1 million pieces of mail each day.

FOCUS ON OVERTIME
One point of contention is the route times, which are supposed to average eight hours so employees don't rack up costly overtime. The USPS uses a computer-generated analysis to create the new routes, but the NALC wants the agency to do an on-the-ground audit to ensure the times are realistic.

"Some eight-hour routes are an easy eight hours, some are like climbing Mount Everest," said Paul Alexander, president of the union's Island chapter.

Once the new routes are set, they will be "auctioned" to all the borough's mail carriers, who will be able to choose their routes based on seniority, Alexander said. That will likely lead to a lot of routes changing hands, and more than a few hiccups, at least in the first few months.

And some residents, who have grown accustomed to seeing the same person deliver mail to their homes for more than two decades, will no doubt find the change disconcerting, Alexander added.

No matter the outcome, it appears changes are inevitable at the federal agency. This past fiscal year, which ended in September, the USPS handled 202.7 billion pieces of mail -- or 9.5 billion fewer than the year before. That's a decline of 4.5 percent compared to the previous fiscal year, and marks the third straight year that mail volume at USPS has dropped.

INTERNET CITED
The USPS projects that postal workers delivered about 19 billion pieces of mail between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, about 1 billion fewer pieces than the same period last year. That comes out to about three fewer pieces of mail per American.

Postmaster General John Potter blamed the slowing economy and a growing trend toward electronic mail and the Internet to pay bills and make financial transactions.

Most economists expect the downturn to continue through next summer. That will likely mean businesses will slash their mail advertising budgets and the average Joe will continue to cut back on shipping.

"We expect the new fiscal year to be another difficult one for the Postal Service and the entire mailing industry, as economic factors will continue to reduce mail volume and increase expenses," Potter said in a press release last month.